Adapted from Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
- Arrangement of words more important in English than in Czech
- Making mistakes when connecting modifiers to words they modify leads to confusion
a) Misplaced Modifier
- Seems to be misplaced, that is put into a wrong position and therefore modifying a different word
Adapted from Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
- Keep the subject/verb/object word order!
- Split infinitives – try to avoid them in general
Adverbs:
(Adapted from Colin Wood – “Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers.” http://altform.com/served-sites/methanecandy/old/MM/MM.ppt)
a) of frequency (never, often, rarely,…):
Robots have put sometimes humans out of work. WRONG
Robots have sometimes put humans out of work.
Sometimes robots have put humans out of work.
b) of degree (absolutely, only, hardly, …):
Robots have been useful especially in making cars. WRONG
Robots have been especially useful in making cars.
c) of manner (badly, beautifully, openly, …):
Robots smoothly work on assembly lines.
Robots work smoothly on assembly lines
Adapted from Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
b) Misplaced Modifier
A dangling modifier does not sensibly modify anything in the sentence; it is “dangling” in vacuum.
Passing the building, the vandalism became visible.
Adapted from Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.